Going Down Swinging works across platforms to produce high quality publications and events that support writers and artists telling stories worth sharing.
Going Down Swinging is one of Australia’s longest-running and most respected literary journals: publishing digital as well as print and audio anthologies since 1979 and producing special, sold-out live events. We believe in fostering a community of writers and artists dedicated to their craft and the ideas behind it. We encourage the creation of new work, and support this by placing great value on editorial feedback and development for those voices still emerging.
As a non-profit organisation, any revenue we make goes back towards supporting the artists and arts workers who make GDS possible. You can support us directly via a tax-deductible donation and help us share stories worth telling.
BOARD
President — Tehani Suafoa
Tehani is a marketing professional who has spent her career helping organisations tell their stories, grow their audiences, and bring creative ideas to life. With a background spanning arts, not-for-profit, and member-based sectors, she brings a strategic yet down-to-earth approach to leadership and community building.
Though she insists she’s not a writer, Tehani has an enduring love and admiration for those who are, making her commitment to supporting storytellers all the stronger. Outside of her work, she loves spending time with family and friends, travelling, and exploring the tucked-away corners of Melbourne’s vibrant food scene.
Vice-President — Chloe Hillary
Chloe is a writer, mother and lawyer. In her professional career she has in-depth experience in intellectual property, administrative law and litigation.
She is committed to empowering artists and communities, having advised artists and writers, led workshops and contributed to advocacy campaigns that strengthened protections for creative and First Nations Communities. Her work reflects her dedication to creative expression, cultural advocacy and community impact.
Chloe writes fiction when she can – dabbling in short stories and working on a manuscript. Her WIP was shortlisted for the 2024 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. She is an avid reader and passionate advocate for the Australian literary community. At home she is routinely ignored by a four year old and seven year old human child and a one year old groodle pup.
Secretary — Sheah Sutton
Sheah began a career in the arts studying acting and performance, but soon realised her skills lay elsewhere, so spent 20 years in arts management across the performing arts sector, with a particular passion for the small-to-medium sector. Her previous roles include Executive Producer with Speak Percussion, Arena Theatre Company and Snuff Puppets.
She took a detour in 2022 and side-stepped into the Community Broadcasting Foundation, where she currently manages funding programs and supports community radio stations around the country, where she gets to indulge her other great love, music.
Sheah also has experience in the government funding sector, as a Program Coordinator at Creative Victoria (previously Arts Victoria), managing the Local Festivals and Artists in Community funding program from 2001 – 2004.
Board member — Seth Robinson
Seth Robinson is a writer, producer, and academic based in Naarm/Melbourne. He is the author of Welcome to Bellevue (2020) the first full-length novel in Grattan Street Press’s original fiction collection. His work has featured in Kill Your Darlings, Meniscus, The Saturday Paper, and Aurealis Magazine, among others.
Seth has appeared at festivals such the Sorrento and Emerging Writers Festival, and is a guest reviewer on Radio National’s ‘The Bookshelf’. He is the creator of ‘Unfolded’, a podcast he co-hosts with Tony Birch, that presents audio-fictions paired with deep-dive interviews with each story’s author.
Board member — Julia Brieger
Julia is a writer and lawyer, currently working in the public service. She has experience in criminal law, litigation, corporate law and administrative law. She is passionate about literature and the arts, and is an avid consumer of stories. When she’s not working, she can be found reading new Australian fiction, baking, accidentally killing her houseplants, or at the beach. She lives with her partner in Sydney.
STAFF
Co-Editor — Wai-Mun Mah
Wai-Mun Mah started at Going Down Swinging in 2019 as an editorial intern, spent time as Marketing Manager and is now Associate Editor. Her responsibilities include building out the journal’s community, and revolutionising overall product. In their time with the organisation they have spearheaded a number of community-based marketing initiatives, such as GDS Reads.
They hold a Master of Writing and Publishing from RMIT.
Co-editor Editor — Helena Pantsis
Helena Pantsis (she/they) is an editor, writer and artist from Naarm, Australia with a fond appreciation for the weird, the dark, and the experimental. She is the author of story collection, ‘GLUTT’, and the forthcoming poetry collection ‘CAPTCHA’.
Junior Editor — Laura Charlton
Laura Charlton is a writer and theatremaker born and raised in Wollongong. Her writing can be found in print with Voiceworks and the South Coast Writers’ Centre, online with Going Down Swinging (haha) and onstage with her theatre company, Unspooled Theatre Collective. She wrote her BA Honours Thesis (UniMelb) on tragic temporality, queer time, and Anne Carson. She loves Aston Villa Football Club.
Junior Editor — Xiaole Zhan
Xiaole Zhan (they/them) is a Chinese-New Zealand writer, editor and composer based in Naarm. They are the recipient of the 2024 Kat Muscat Fellowship and a 2024 Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellowship. They were also the winner of the 2023 Kill Your Darlings Non-Fiction Prize and the 2023 Charles Brasch Young Writers Essay Competition. Their writing can be found in publications such as Kill Your Darlings, The Suburban Review, The Big Issue, Island, Cordite, Going Down Swinging, Landfall and Starling, among others. As a composer, Xiaole is the 2024 New North Emerging Artist. Their name in Chinese is 小乐 and means ‘Little Happy’ but can also be read as ‘Little Music’.
